Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts is shocked – shocked! — that a draft of the impending ruling on a Mississippi abortion case has been leaked to the press. Conservatives are calling the leak an act of treasonous insurrection, a subject they certainly know lots about.
Fact is, the leak is by no means unprecendented. Even the Roe decision, which this court seems bent on negating, was leaked. Warren Burger, then Chief Justice, demanded to know who had leaked the information and threatened to give all the Court’s clerks lie-detector tests:
“Clerks, justices, and other people with access to information have leaked about Bush v. Gore, the Affordable Healthcare Act, and—now—the overturning of Roe, just as in the 19th century, the court leaked information about its ruling in the Pennsylvania v. Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company case. …. Despite all the Court’s august solemnity, full-time reporters covering it are able to break news about it and its inner workings—including, at times, in highly-detailed behind-the-scenes books—because people up to and including the justices leak.”
— “The Supreme Court Leaks All the Time,” Matthew Gault, Vice [links added]
Related:
“Newsmax Host Suggests Ketanji Brown Jackson, Who Isn’t On Supreme Court Yet, Leaked Draft,”
Elise Foley, HuffPost
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Tags: court decisions, draft decisions, leaked court decisions, leaked documents, leaks, Mississippi abortion law, overturning Roe v Wade, Roe, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of the United States
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